Customer Reviews
Cracking Read - By: Chris V-H, 07 Jul 2008 
A good book well worth a read no mucking about straightin there sex & violence to the fore
great stuff
Vast improvement on "Ghost" but still pushing the envelope - By: Marshall Lord, 17 May 2008 
This is the second bookin the series which began with "Ghost". "Kildar" is much less outrageous, & rather better written, than the first bookin the series but still goes over the topin several places. As a rough litmus test, if you were strongly against the Iraq war, are very pro-feminist, or even slightly prudish, do your blood pressure a favour & refrain from touching this entire series with a ten foot barge-pole.
At the start of "Kildar", having prevented some dire terrorist atrocitiesin the first book, former SEAL Mike Harmon has gone travellingin various remote parts of the world to keep out of the way of those people who would like revenge on him. Stoppingin a remote valleyin Georgia ("the country not the state" as he repeats umpteen times during the book) he decides to buy the local castle as a place to stay. It turns out that the castle & associated farmland comes with some feudal retainers, the Keldara, who accept him as their liege lord or "Kildar" - & if that sounds wierd & anachronistic at the start of the 21st century you ain't read nothing yet.
The full series currently consists of
Ghost
Kildar
Choosers of the Slain
Into the Breach
A Deeper Blue
John Ringo normally writes military SF & most of his offeringsin that genre are extremely good. This series is about a freelance war on terror. In places, & especiallyin the first book, Ringo seems to bein grave danger of crossing the line between challenging the reader & going out of your way to see how many people you can offend. That goes even for his existing fans among military SF readers, who are probably neither the most prudish or left/liberal of audiences.
In fact the funniest part of "Kildar" & each subsequent bookin the series is not part of the main text - it is the disclaimer at the start of the books which at least demonstrates that Ringo understands & has a sense of humour about the controversy "Ghost" stirred up. That disclaimer is worth quotingin full, it reads as follows:
"This is a work of fiction. All the characters & events portrayedin this book are fictional, & any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book & series has no connection to reality. Any attempt by the reader to replicate any scenein this series is to be taken at the reader's own risk. For that matter, most of the actions of the main character are illegal under US & international law as well as most of the stricter religionsin the world.
"There is no Valley of the Keldara. Heck, there is no Kildar. And the idea of some Scots & Vikings getting together to raid the Byzantine Empire is beyond ludicrous.
"The islands describedin a previous book do not exist. Entire regions describedin these books do not exist. Any attempt to learn anything from these books is disrecommended by the author, the publisher & the author's mother who wishes to state that he was a very nice boy & she doesn't know what went wrong."
Incidentally, that line about "any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental" is a classic example of a blatantly false statement which escapes being a lie only because both author & reader know that it's a legal fiction which he has to write & makes no attempt to fool anyone. Osama Bin Laden & Vladimir Putin appearin these books under their real names, certain other characters will instantly be recognised by any politically aware reader as corresponding to real world US politicians.
All five booksin the series contain a great deal of violence, strongly expressed & very right-wing political views, & a lot of references to sex, always utterly politically incorrect & sometimes fairly explicit. My copies of these books are stored where my children can't get at them & will be until they are adults.
Provided you are not offended by the sex, violence & non-PC attitudes, these books can be quite exciting & entertainingin places. But I would advise feminists, left-wingers, & anyone even slightly prudish to save your money for something else.
Darkly fascinating but BEWARE - will make you hot under the collar! - By: Imoen Paige, 05 May 2006 Ringo's Ghost series has sparked controversy over his completely un-PC protagonist. Not only are feminists & religious fractions outraged over his S&B erotica, harem & sexist content of this book & othersin the series; the protagonist's right wing politics, blatant "shoot 'em & let God sort 'em out" content,in this climate isn't going to necessarily make comfortable reading. If you're the slightest bit prudish or against macho men... I suggest you forget this book - you'll end up wanting to burn it or have a coronary!
Kildar finds Ghostin a "Lord of the Land" situation with lost or loose women to "take care of", Modern day Viking subordinates to trainin a SNAFU all out war with various terrorists & baddies. Just imagine the song; "bodies hit the floor" mixed with hard S&M porn & an American chauvinistic anti-hero protagonistin lead & that sums it up.
As a woman, I was quite taken aback by this series as I hadn't noticed Ringo's characters being quite so offensivein quite so many ways! However, the hero's internal struggle to be "a good guy" despite the darkness of his personal fantasies grew on me. I did find the blatant political messages rather irritating as I am personally against most of what Ghost has to say/believein & the erotica sections were a little hard to read... However, if you can see past the "shock" factor elements of the book, the character of Ghost is an interesting one; too many such like-minded people exist today & it's not likely I'd ever meet someone like himin real life, only faces of him. After all, that is the function of Literature; to broaden one's horizons. It might not make comfortable reading, you might not agree with it but it's always fascinating to see things from different viewpoints.
